UVA Swimming senior Gretchen Walsh, who can’t do much more as her final days as a collegian play out, did add one more world record, in the 100m butterfly, at the TYR Pro Swim Series meet at the Fort Lauderdale Aquatic Center on Saturday.
Walsh actually broke the world record twice on Saturday, posting a 55.09 in her morning prelim swim to break her own previous world record of 55.18 set at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials last year, then, in the evening final, Walsh became the first woman ever to swim the event in under 55 seconds, setting a new world record at 54.60.
Walsh closed the meet with her fourth gold, winning the 50m freestyle with the fastest time in the world this year, 24.33.
On Friday, Walsh broke her own American record in the 50m butterfly, posting a 24.93, bettering her own record by 0.18 seconds. She is the second woman ever to swim the event in less than 25 seconds.
Walsh opened the meet on Thursday by winning the 100m free with a 52.90, the top time in the world this year, and a personal-best. The previous top time was set by incoming Cavalier Sara Curtis of Italy (53.01).
This was Walsh’s first time posting a sub-53-second time in the event and moved her up to ranking fifth on the Top U.S. Performers list for the event.
Walsh has set 17 world records in her career, 13 individual records and four relay records. Five of those records are in long-course meters.
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Chris Graham
